Kaito
by hyoriu
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi World War has ended, and the world is becoming peaceful once again. Just as things begin to settle down, a threat very close to home appears. Will the Konoha be able to survive this threat? A new era, with a new generation of ninja have come to fight this evil.
1. Chapter 1

Kaito woke up just in time to duck as a flying book sailed over his head.

"Stay awake!" The Academy instructor yelled.

A kid behind him, who got hit with the book, moaned as he rubbed his forehead, a book-shaped mark imprinted on his head.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei..." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Kaito woke up late that morning, as usual, and had to rush to class.

Iruka sighed. "Just don't do it again. Today is a very important day for all of you. This day will determine-"

Kaito gently rested his head on the desk as Iruka continued talking.

He was soon jerked awake by a fellow classmate.

Kaito looked to see who woke him up, and saw the familiar green short hair that he began to grow used to. It was his childhood friend, Ren.

Ren had recently gotten his long green hair cut, so now his hair was shoulder-length, the side parting letting a large portion of his bangs cover the left side of his face. His black eyes held a weariness similar to Kaito's, he noticed, suggesting that Ren had gotten as much rest as he did. He wore mesh armor underneath a dark green t-shirt with silver metal lashes on the front and back of it in the shape of claw marks.

"Listen... He's about to tell us what we need to do to graduate."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry."

"-the clone technique to pass." Iruka finished, then went into the examination room.

Kaito was one of the last to enter. Iruka looked up as he entered the room. The room's floor was bare, polished wood, the only decoration was the desk that Iruka sat at, a set of Leaf forehead protectors placed neatly on the desk. Sunlight shone through the window as Kaito sighed.

'_This is the day,_' He thought, '_Time to show Iruka that my last-minute training has finally paid off!_'

"Show me what you've got, Kaito."

Kaito nodded, and made three consecutive hand seals: Ram, Snake, Tiger.

_Poof!_

Covered in smoke, four clones that were completely identical to Kaito appeared. They all had the same snow-white, mildly spiky hair, sky blue eyes, thin dark blue metal-plated arm warmers, a silver band wrapped around his right shoulder, and a navy blue shirt with a symbol of a water sphere on the left sleeve. They wore the same white pants, a ninja hip-pouch located at the back of them, a shuriken holster strapped to all of their legs, and blue ninja sandals. Yup, they looked exactly like Kaito.

"How'd I do?" Kaito asked, a grin plastered across his face.

Iruka sighed and tapped one of the forehead protectors.

"Go ahead," he sighed, "You've passed."

The clones disappeared as Kaito leaped, tackling his sensei in a bear hug.

"Ow!" He proclaimed, but didn't resist. He ruffled his student's hair.

"You'll treat me to some ramen, right?" Kaito smiled.

Iruka sighed again. "You remind me of another student of mine..." He muttered.

"Huh?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Sure. I'll treat you to some, this time."

"Hehe," Kaito grinned, "I'll be holding you to that!"

Kaito grabbed his hitai-ate and wrapped it around his forehead, a glare cast on the metal where the Leaf's symbol was located.

"Finally," he said under his breath, "I'm finally a ninja."

Kaito dashed out of the room, out of the academy, and onto the streets of Konoha. He raced to Ichiraku Ramen.

"Old man!" He yelled as he entered the shop, skidding to a stop. As Teuchi turned around, his eyes grew in surprise when he saw the forehead protector on Kaito's forehead. He tapped Ayame on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" She turned around and gasped in surprise.

"You did it!" She exclaimed.

"Yup!" He tapped the headband proudly. "Piece of cake!"

"How about a free bowl of ramen, on me?"

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer!" Kaito said, taking a seat at the counter as Teuchi set a bowl down, a pair of chopsticks next to the bowl.

He picked up the chopsticks, separating them, "Thank you very much!" He exclaimed before digging in the ramen.

Some time later, Iruka walked in, ruffling the boy's hair.

"This is only one step, you know."

"I know," he said in between slurps, "But this means that I'm ready to be a ninja. So," he pushed the bowl aside, "Who will I be paired up with?"

"Nice try. You'll find out tomorrow, just like everyone else."

Kaito frowned.

"Fine," Kaito said, "But you'll pay for this. Literally! I'd like five more bowls please!" He yelled.

"Wait, what!?"

Kaito eagerly sat at his seat the next day. Ren had passed, and was sitting next to Kaito, bored, waiting to hear what squad he was in.

He barely paid attention to any of the other squads as Iruka called their names. Kaito was only listening for either his or his friend's name. Hopefully they'd be together.

"Team 10. Ren Yoshido, Emi Tachibana, and Takehiro."

Kaito nudged Ren with his elbow.

"You know 'em?"

"Nah. Though I'm sure I'll meet them soon enough."

"Team 11, Kaito Koizumi, Hayato Maki, and Aoi Suzuki."

"Huh. I don't know any of them."

"I hear Aoi's a beauty." A kid behind Kaito whispered.

"Yeah," another kid agreed, "Her teammates must be lucky. She's both smart and beautiful."

"Now you know." Ren said.

"Heh. Not a bad start if you ask me."

"I'll tell each of you what time and place you are to meet your jounin sensei." Iruka-sensei said, "It's up to you whether you get to know each other."

By the time Kaito came from the bathroom, the other two were getting comfortable. He looked at his teammates. The girl, Aoi, Kaito remembered, looked fully rested. She had dark blue, almost black eyes, with long, smooth black hair. She wore a turquoise sleeveless robe, short-sleeved mesh armor worn underneath, and gray shorts with the standard sandals. She sat on the bench and twirled her hair with her finger idly, waiting for our sensei to come.

A boy was leaning on a pillar, twirling a kunai in the air. He had chin-length black spiky hair, and had cold, liquid hazel eyes. He wore bandages around his hands and wrists, black shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and a black shirt with mesh armor underneath.

He glanced at Kaito, then went back to twirling the kunai.

Kaito sat down on the bench Aoi was sitting at.

"Oh, hi," she said, finally noticing him, "I'm Aoi. You are?"

"I'm Kaito-"

A smoke cloud appeared in front of them. A man with a Leaf flak jacket appeared, wearing a simple blue full-body suit underneath, blue strapped up sandals, and short metal-plated gloves. His hair was a light brown, a Konohagakure hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead, and he had warm brown eyes. Then a smoke cloud appeared on his face, his face disappearing, a piece of paper with "Foor eht fo pot" appearing on it.

"Top of the roof?" Aoi mumbled.

Hayato was the first to leave the room, figuring it out first, followed by Aoi, and finally Kaito, clumsily following them.

The real jounin was sitting on the railing of the roof, a dull expression on his face.

"Welcome," he announced, perking up, "So, you must be Hayato," he said, pointing at Kaito, "You Kaito, and you Aoi."

Kaito sweatdropped.

"I'm Kaito, sensei." Kaito said, sitting down next to Aoi.

"I'm Hayato." The boy said, sitting down a little distanced from the other two.

"Oh, sorry." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm your jounin-sensei, Sora Hayabusa. As you know, teamwork is everything in a squad. So, I'd like you to talk about each other. You know, get to know your teammates. I'd like you to tell me your likes and dislikes, and your goals or dreams.

"For instance, I like books, dislike various things, and my goals are... Undetermined. They will definitely be determined later, but as of now aren't. Just like that." He smiled.

Aoi and Kaito sweatdropped.

'_Not really specific_' Kaito thought.

"I'd like to go first!" Aoi rose her hand. Sensei nodded at her and she began. "I like snow cones, dislike intense heat, and my goal is to prove that a strong mind overcomes masculine strength, or brute force."

"Huh," Sora-sensei said, "Who's next then?"

"I'll go!" Kaito exclaimed. "I love ramen, dislike sour things, and my goal is to become the greatest ninja in history! Challenging even Naruto!"

Sensei smirked, shaking his head. "Good luck kid," he said, then looked at Hayato. "You're up."

"I don't particularly like anything above anything else, dislike incompetence and the weak, and my goal is something I'd like to keep to myself." He said cooly.

"That's fair enough," The jounin said, standing up. "This is an interesting group we've got here. I can't wait to go on our first mission. Tomorrow."

"What type of mission? Hunting down a rogue ninja? Taking down a pack of crazed animals?"

"No, but it will be no less challenging. It's a survival exercise."

"Wait, why are we doing that? We just passed, what's the point of it?" Kaito asked.

"Well... Out of all the graduates, only nine will make it. The others will be sent back to the Academy. This," he said, suddenly serious, "is a pass or fail test. There's a higher chance you'll fail than pass. Specifically a 66% chance of passing. I decide, basically, whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated location at 11 A.M. And bring all of your ninja gear. That's all," he made a one-handed Tiger seal,"You're dismissed." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

They all arrived at the training field at 10:30 A.M., even Kaito, who began to doze off. Not even 15 minutes later, Sora showed up, a book in hand.

"You guys are early." He put his book away.

Kaito and Aoi moaned, while Hayato glared at the jounin.

"So, for this test, all you have to do is get the three golden coins." He held three coins in his hand, then dropped them into the ground. He made a hand seal, and they transformed into clones, each one having a different hairstyle. They quickly scattered. "I advise that you come at me like you want to kill me. I know," he said, combing his hair with his hand. "It'll be hard to hurt a beautiful face like this. Just try your hardest."

Kaito slowly got up to stand next to his teammates.

"Ready."

Kaito moved his hand to his shuriken holster.

"Set..."

He grabbed three shuriken, gripping them tightly between his fingers.

"Start!"

They all shunshined to secretive locations in the forest.

"Huh..." Sora said, "They're not half bad."

He turned to find Kaito staring at him.

Sora sweatdropped.

"You're not as smart as the others, are you?"

Three shuriken flew at Sora from behind. He quickly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and deflected all three.

"Nice try..." He said. Three more shuriken, from another direction, flew at him again. He deflected them, catching the last one with his hand, then suddenly stopped.

Kaito used this opportunity and jumped from the bushes, kunai in hand, aimed for his sensei.

"Haaa!" He screamed.

He brought his foot down, slamming the jounin's head into the ground. He then brought down the kunai—when he was suddenly interrupted by a sudden hand, grabbing his and stopping the blade. It was Sora.

"What?" Kaito mumbled, "How..." The Sora on the ground was now a piece of wood, and the ground around it showed signs of smoke fading.

He flung Kaito into a tree. Kaito groaned in pain.

"Your teammate is smart, Kaito." He said. '_The shuriken he threw at my clone had wires attached to it. He was sending chakra into the wire to immobilise me. These kids are better than I thought._' Sora thought.

Kaito got up and into a fighting stance. He dashed towards his sensei.

"Shinobi skill, rule number one: Taijutsu."

Kaito swung his foot at Sora's head, which he easily evaded. He crouched to the ground, then did a low sweep kick to his sensei's legs. Sora jumped, kicking Kaito into the ground as he leapt in the air, landing gracefully on the ground.

Kaito spat out dirt.

"Grrr..." He said, getting back up. He ran at him again, pulling his arm back. He screamed in outrage, throwing his fists out in a blind fury. Sora appeared behind him, his hand around Kaito's neck, and a kunai pointed at his back.

"Don't let your enemy get behind you."

Aoi already figured out that Sora had moved, and was tracking him down. She planned on telling her teammates, but they both were engaged in combat with the clone.

She stopped on a branch above Sora.

He was building up his chakra, and she used this chance to attack. She dropped silently from the trees, landing on top of him. Caught of gaurd, he reached for a weapon.

Aoi quickly brought out a kunai and held it near his throat.

"Mind summoning those clones, sensei?" She winked.

He smirked. His eye twitched rapidly, his hair slowly grew down his back, changing from brown to golden. He thrust his head forward, driving the kunai into his neck. Aoi screamed and backed up, more confused than horrified. The body was still breathing, though it lay limp as if it were dead.

Then the body rose, suddenly on fire.

Aoi shrieked in fear as the clone spewed massive amounts of flames on her, the kunoichi soon becoming consumed in the flames.

From far away, the sound of clashing metal could be heard.

Hayato was engaged in fierce combat with the jounin.

He evaded several kunai with explosive tags attached to them. He had enough time to fling himself off the branch before the tree exploded. He breathed heavily.

Hayato heard the sizzle of something burning.

He cursed, then an explosion from behind knocked him forward. He rolled into a crouching position, then shunshined to another branch. He began storing chakra when a kunai whizzed past his face. He took out two long threads of wire, wrapping it around two kunai, then implanted the kunai into the branch. He then wrapped the rest of the wire around his arms, and leaned back just as a fireball shot at the place he was just sitting. He free fell backwards, then wrapped his arms around the wire and yanked, stopping his descent. He maneuvered himself to the point where he had good footing on the thin wire. A fireball made it's way below him, exploding on impact, singeing the ground around the newly created crater.

Hayato twisted in the air, cutting the wire. He pushed off of a tree, onto a branch, and began moving again, unknowingly leaving a trail of blood drops for the jounin.

Aoi yelled at the top of her lungs, trying to pat down the fire that now consumed her completely. She panicked. '_No_,' She yelled, '_It will come off! It'll come off_!"

Her body flailed around helplessly, trying to extinguish the fire. She swatted at her cloth, tears streaming down her face.

Something told her to calm down, it was only an trick. But the illusion seemed too real, her flesh beginning to melt off.

She slowly stopped panicking and took a deep breath.

"Calm... Down..." Aoi told herself. This wasn't the first time she had been trapped in a genjutsu, just the first time it's been a strong one like this one. Her mother would laugh if she saw her like this.

She brought her shaking hands together, and made a hand seal.

"Release!" She spoke aloud, and the jutsu dispersed, revealing her lying on the floor.

"Shinobi battle techniques part two," the sensei said from above her. She yelped, then shunshined away. "Genjutsu." Sora said with a smirk.

Hayato wiped the sweat from his face as he pushed off one last tree, satisfied. He flinched and looked down at his leg, where there was a slight gash leaking blood. He cursed silently. He heard heavy breathing from far away. He glanced around cautiously, then the sudden rustle of leaves made him jerk up, his guard on high alert. Suddenly a form was in front of him, deflecting shuriken and kunai at a rapid pace.

When the projectiles stopped flying, the stranger turned around to reveal it was Aoi, his teammate.

She quickly knelt by his side, getting some ointment from her bag and placing it on the wound without a word.

"You know," she said finally, after wrapping up the wound, "You could rely on us."

"You two were trapped in a genjutsu, if I remember correctly." Sora's voice sounded from within the woods.

"Two?" Aoi asked, then sighed. "Kaito too?"

"Yes. You passed him, shockingly."

"Ugh," she groaned. Hayato quickly took out a kunai and threw it past Aoi's face. She gasped as it hit a shuriken aimed at the two from faraway.

"Nice job." He said, appearing on a tree two feet in front of us. "Too bad this is the end. You've failed." He said, and three other clones appeared on branches, surrounding us. Each clone had a wacky hairstyle. Those were Hayato's targets.

His teammate gulped.

Hayato made a _tsk_ sound. He made a Tiger seal with one hand, and the sizzling sound of a bomb went off in numerous sections of the forest.

_Boom!_

Trees around them blew up, causing the clones to poof out of existence, coins falling to the ground in their place. Their tree rustled.

The two jumped off the tree and onto another before the previous collapsed.

"When did you set that up?" Aoi asked, a hint of relief in her voice.

"When I felt I wasn't being followed." Hayato said simply.

Suddenly Hayato felt a quick jab to his neck, and he fell off of the tree, landing on the ground roughly. Aoi came down after him, falling limply.

Hayato struggled to keep his eyes open.

"You've done well, up until now. But-"

"Hyaa!" Kaito's voice roared, then a _smack_ sounded throughout the forest.

Sora rubbed his cheek. "You actually hit me." He said, shocked.

"Hehe," Kaito said, "Aoi didn't pass me. She got me while you were tracking a false one! This battle isn't over yet!"

Kaito pulled out six kunai, three in each hand.

"Did I tell you the third battle technique yet?" Sora asked, getting up slowly.

Kaito rose an eyebrow.

"It is-"

"I don't care!" Kaito yelled, jumping in the air. He threw one kunai at the jounin who stood dumbfounded at his student's rashness. The teacher caught the poorly thrown kunai. Kaito spun in the air, throwing the rest of them at his sensei wildly.

He deflected the one that was close to him, then scratched his head.

"Are you serious right now?" He asked as Kaito fell to the ground.

His teammates stirred behind him.

"Prepare for my secret, ultimate, new technique!"

Kaito made the Ram seal and began storing chakra.

"Ah," Sora said, getting into a battle stance, "What have we got here?"

"Here we go!" Kaito yelled, then a smoke cloud engulfed him, in his place took place a young woman with white hair in a long ponytail in a blue bikini.

"Sexy Jutsu!" The woman said in an seductive tone, making a seductive pose.

The sensei's mouth dropped. He immediately had a major nosebleed, sending the sensei flying into the tree behind him.

His teammates, using the distraction to get the coins, sat wearily behind Kaito, showing off the coins.

"That's the technique used by the Hokage, isn't it?" Hayato mumbled.

"Yes," a tick mark appearing on Aoi's forehead, "Yes it is. Who taught it to an idiot like him, I have no idea."

Another smoke cloud appeared and Kaito sat with a goofy grin, thumbs up at his sensei.

"Hehe," he called, "We won!"

"Yeah," the sensei got up, wiping his nose, "You did. I just can't believe I got caught by _that_."

"Neither can I..." Aoi said through gritted teeth, a murderous aura around her.

"Ahaha... Ha... Ha?" Kaito said before the kunoichi punched him, causing him to have a huge bruise on top of his forehead.

"Ouch..." he whined, rubbing the bruise.

"Humph." Aoi turned her head.

Sora laughed. "What a team I've got..." He said to himself, staring at the blue sky.

* * *

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading this one-shot. JUST KIDDING! Could you imagine if I did that though? Hehe...**

**Thanks again for reading the first chapter. I'll update as much as I can. This is my first third person fanfic, so I'm sorry if I didn't do well. Leave a review, whether it's a tip or just how much you liked it.**


	2. The Man

**Arc One, Chapter 2: The Man**

Kaito flopped to the ground, panting heavily.

"Come on Kaito," Aoi cheered, "You can do it!"

"You're almost there!" Sora encouraged.

"I can't," he wheezed, "It's too much..."

"Just three more! Hayato's doing one, so that makes two!"

A tick mark appeared on Kaito's head.

"Why the hell do we have to push _boulders_ up a hill!? And why aren't you helping?"

"The client said he wants to add these to his collection. And, I'm not helping because girls shouldn't have to do this sort of work."

"Was he drunk when he made this request?"

"I doubt it," Sora said, "Usually drunkards can't find their way to the mansion."

"Don't listen to him. I can name a number of times the Fifth has entered the mansion drunk." Aoi deadpanned.

Kaito stood up, glaring at the two ninja.

"Why aren't you helping, sensei?"

"Same reason as Aoi."

"Because you're a girl?"

"Oh, heavens no. Because I'm lazy."

"Huh. At least you have the courtesy to admit it." Kaito sweatdropped.

"What? No! I'm not lazy!" Aoi denied.

He began rolling the boulder uphill when Hayato came down. Kaito felt a surge of energy and pushed the boulder quickly. Hayato, who hadn't broken a sweat yet, pushed his boulder behind Kaito. When they got to the top, they rolled the rocks next to the others. An elderly man came out of a clumsily built house. He was very thin, and had pointy gray beard and a bald scalp that made him look like an old monk.

"Thank you," He smiled, "I really appreciate it."

"Phew," Kaito said, wiping the sweat from his face, "No problem!"

Hayato started on his way down as Sora and Aoi made their way up. Kaito leaned on one of the boulders. It started moving beneath his weight, and soon it pushed the others down the hill. Kaito fell to the ground, muttering "Oops." silently.

The eight boulders came crashing down like an avalanche, carrying dirt and grit with them. Hayato turned around and his shoulders slumped. They all deadpanned, their eyes twitching twice.

"If we survive this," Sora said, "Kaito better run. Fast."

"Agreed." The two said through gritted teeth, and then the avalanche descended upon them.

The old man stood near Kaito, peering at the destruction below.

"It won't be too long, now, until they come after you. You should use this opportunity as a head start."

Kaito got up and ran, the aged man waving good-bye politely.

"Kaito." His team spoke in menacing harmony.

Kaito dashed through the streets of Konoha, searching for the Hokage's mansion. He turned right to find Hayato, his hair concealing his face. He cracked his knuckles and raised his head, glaring wickedly at Kaito.

"You're. Dead." He said, and an evil aura around him.

Kaito gulped and turned to find Aoi with the same scary aura, walking slowly to Kaito.

Kaito shivered instinctively, and looked up to see his sensei on the building above him, glaring at him with the same aura as the others.

He was trapped, with only one way to go. It no doubt held a trap for him, but he'd rather that then deal with them. He ran down that street. Merchants spat curses at him as he bumped into them and their customers, but he ignored it. He could see the shadow of his sensei in the corner of his eye, leaping from building to building.

His sprint was short lived when he bumped into someone, falling down.

"Watch it!" Yelled a familiar voice.

Kaito lifted his head to see his friend Ren.

When he stood, brushing his clothes off, his eyes locked onto his friend. He wore his hitai-ate on his right elbow. His eyebrows rose.

"Kaito!" He held a hand out. Kaito grabbed it, and he lifted the genin up. "Why were you running?"

A figure flew at Kaito. He back flipped and dodged Hayato, his fist leaving a crack in the ground. Aoi was suddenly behind him, Sora-sensei on the side of him. Sora raised his hand without turning towards the genin, and slammed it on his head. Kaito landed silently on the ground, his butt sticking in the air, and a small soul escaped from his open mouth.

"Haha..." Ren said nervously.

"Ren-chan!" A girl's voice squealed.

Ren blushed and swung his head around.

"Stop calling me that!"

Three people came to join Ren, one wearing a flak jacket similar to Sora's.

A boy that stood slightly taller than Ren, with short spiky brown hair, dark brown eyes, walked next to him. He had a dim blue zip-up jacket, black Shinobi sandals, and gray pants on. He wore his hitai-ate on his forehead.

A girl a little smaller than Ren ran next to him. She had blond hair wrapped in a high-ponytail, cut right below the shoulder-blades, and three long strands of hair on the right side of her face. She wore a yellow short-sleeved qipao-style blouse with red trimmings, dark blue shorts, blue sandals, and fingerless gloves.

A man scratching his head slowly walked to stand next to the kids. He had black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, and stud earrings. He had his flak jacket on, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals. There was green lined mesh armor on his wrists and ankles. The placement of his headband was worn around his left arm, but only the metal part is visible, seemingly sewn onto the shirt itself.

"Oh, hey Shikamaru." Greeted Sora.

"Hey." He replied tiredly.

"Sensei, who's this?" The blond girl asked.

"We're Team 11." Kaito said, staggering his way next to his team.

"I'm Aoi Suzuki." She bowed.

"Hayato Maki."

"Kaito Koizumi!" He tapped his headband with his thumb.

"I'm Sora Hayabusa." The man waved.

"Team 10, nice to meet you," the girl said, "I'm Emi Tachibana." She bowed.

"Ren Yoshido." He bobbed his head.

"Takehiro!" He gave thumbs up and smiled. His teeth were so white that they twinkled.

"Shikamaru Nara." He said plainly.

"Where're you guys headed to?" Aoi asked.

"We're heading back from a mission." Ren replied.

"Same here," Aoi shot Kaito a cold look, "We had to leave our mission to Sora-sensei's clones due to a... mishap."

Emi whispered in Ren's ear, and then retreated to the side of him.

He sighed and said, "What was your mission?"

"We had to carry fake boulders with a special sort of rock in the middle of them."

"W-wait, fake?"

"Yes, Kaito, fake. It has some sort of special rock in the middle, though, and that is what makes it heavy. I don't think you could roll an actual boulder." Aoi stated.

"I could've if I tried..." Kaito pouted.

"Yeah. We know." Sora said, shaking his head. "You guys got anything planned for today?"

"We're going to celebrate our passing today." Takehiro said, "I'm also showing some merchandise. Need any more kunai? How about shuriken? I've got them at the cheapest of prices!" He flicked his wrists and three shuriken appeared in his left hand, five kunai in his right.

"No thanks..." They said simultaneously.

"I've also for some good deals on explosives!"

Sora looked intrigued.

"You know, I think we've got everything!" Kaito said, chuckling nervously.

"Okay. Tell me when you want some, though. I've got them at the cheapest prices."

"Back on that celebration subject," Kaito turned to Sora, "When are we going to celebrate?"

Sora blinked.

"Hmm..." He rubbed his chin, "How about with Shikamaru's team? You don't mind, do ya?"

"I-"

"Great!" Sora exclaimed. "Come on team! Let's do one more mission."

"Ugh..." Kaito complained.

Kaito noticed that Emi was staring at Hayato, and when he glanced her way she blushed, hiding behind Ren.

"Wait!" Shikamaru said, but they already left.

Shikamaru sighed.

Kaito and his team arrived at Yakiniku Q after completing their final mission for the day. They entered the restaurant and went to Shikamaru's team. Takehiro was at another table, offering flash bombs to a couple that were in the process of declining as politely as possible. The restaurant had green cushions on their seats, menus plastered on the walls. Each table has a charcoal brazier built in the centre and is equipped with tongs for cooking, which customers use to cook their own food after ordering it. Shikamaru's team had already ordered the food by the time Kaito's group came, and the smell of cooking meat began filling their area.

"Hey Ren!" Kaito exclaimed, holding out his fist.

"Yo!" He fist-bumped his childhood friend.

Hayato sat quietly in between Aoi and Sora, directly across from Emi. She slightly blushed.

Takehiro sat in front of Kaito, staring at him for a moment.

"Who are you?"

Kaito looked around in disbelief.

"Me? I'm Kaito. Don't you remember me from earlier?"

"Huh? Was it today?"

"Take-san," Emi said, shaking her head, "You forget too much. We're working on that from now on."

"Sorry!" He smiled, scratching the back of his head. He picked up a chopstick and put pieces of meat on a saucer near him. Kaito did the same, and suddenly the plate was gone.

"Who took my-"

"Thanks!" She chimed in, placing a piece of pork in her mouth. Aoi waved her hand, smiling.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"Nope. You owe me this from earlier. Just make another plate."

"Fine." He said reluctantly, grabbing more pieces of meat.

Kaito took his first bite of the pork "Mmm." He moaned in delight, the taste of the meat indescribable.

"This is so good!" Emi said, leaning on Shikamaru's arm.

"I've been here a number of times. I'm glad you like it." Shikamaru smirked.

"How often do you come here?" Takehiro asked after devouring several sticks of celery.

"Only on special occasions. I think you guys graduating is a big deal, so I thought of this place almost instantly."

"This place is great. I can't believe I've never eaten here before." Sora said.

Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We ate here two weeks ago..."

"Oh yeah!" Sora snapped his fingers, "That's when I brought that sake! Boy that Akimichi guy sure can eat."

"Yeah. Ino wants to see me after the day is over."

"Ah, do I have to go also?"

"Nah, it's just a personal matter."

"Oh, ok."

In the corner of Kaito's eyes, he could see the sensei playing with a lighter.

"This is our sixth mission! Are you as excited as I am?" Sora asked, with not a bit of sarcasm.

The team was utterly tired, and had no energy to reply to their sensei's question. They could barely drag themselves out of bed this early in the morning.

"Oh, come on, you little killjoys. The early bird catches the worm, right?"

"Why do you hate us so...?" Aoi whimpered.

"It can't be _that_ bad."

The team shivered.

He opened the door and walked into the room, his squad walking wearily behind him.

There stood a long table where the Hokage and other ninja sat, distributing the missions.

The Hokage's face was concealed by the customary Hokage hat and haori.

"Hokage-sama?" Aoi asked cautiously.

His head suddenly fell to the desk with a hard thud.

Aoi screamed as Sora rushed to his sides. The ninja around him helped the Hokage up, placing him on the seat.

"Is he still breathing?" One ninja asked.

"Uncertain."

Then a loud snore rang throughout the entire room. The ninja around the Hokage face-vaulted.

"The Hokage is a... Idiot..." said Hayato.

"Agreed." The other two said simultaneously.

"Why you little!" A ninja said, shaking the blond furiously.

"Huh?" He came to, rubbing his eyes. "Ahehe... Sorry. I was a little sleepy." He scratched his face.

Sora regained his composure.

"Naruto-san, please don't scare us like that. We'd like to request a mission." Sora stated politely.

"Oh, I've got just the one. It's around here somewhere..." He began searching through an unorganized pile of papers.

"Here it is!" He beamed, raising the paper high. He cleared his throat. "You need to find Sen's several dogs."

"Old Man Sen?" Aoi asked, "I know him! He lost Jun, Kimi, and Rina?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto shook his head.

"Poor Sen-san..."

"Where does he live, Aoi?"

"He lives near Old Man Yama, the guy we helped yesterday. The one with the rocks?"

"Oh! He seemed pretty cool."

"Yeah, well sometimes Sen can be the _opposite_ of Yama. Just don't aggravate him."

"Me?" A huge grin appeared on Kaito's face, "I could never aggravate someone! Right?"

"Wrong." She replied, turning around and walking out the room.

"What'd ya want?" The old man groaned irritably, glaring at the Shinobi.

"We've come for your request... Do you remember?"

He blinked.

"Of course I remember!" He yelled, swinging his cane in anger, "Hurry up and get to the job then!"

As he turned around, Hayato stopped him. He whispered in the man's ear, and the man suddenly burst into laughter. They whispered amongst themselves until Sora cleared his throat.

"Can we please get on with the mission? Do you have any-"

"I lost them around the time I went around the gates." He interrupted happily.

"Uh... Thank... Thank you." Aoi stammered.

"No problem." He said. They began to leave when Sen stopped Sora. "Keep good care of that boy. He's a good one."

"No problem." Sora blinked, and then caught up with the others.

"Boy, what'd you say to him Hayato?"

"I just told him if he didn't work with us I'd split his skull open with a dull blade."

His teammates stopped in their tracks as he kept walking.

"And that worked?" Kaito asked incredulously.

"Yup. He told me, 'I'd sell my soul to a demon before I let you touch me', and I said, 'That demon would be a fool to get in my way'. Then-"

"No, no," Aoi interrupted, "I've had enough of this for one day."

"Enough of what?"

"Nonsense."

"Ah," Sora nodded.

"We're going to split up. If you find one, meet up at the old man's house. I'll search in the village while you search near the gates. Break!" They scattered.

Hayato was the first to find a dog matching the appearance the owner described. The pup was whimpering in a dark corner of an abandoned building. Hayato looked around; then, making sure no one was watching, bent down and scratched behind the puppy's ears. It weakly licked his hands, so Hayato petted its head, picking the dog up carefully. He then took the long way to the man's house, scratching the dog's head along the way.

Aoi was the second, finding a dog with a golden collar, "Kimi" engraved roughly on it, playing with a small group of children. Aoi politely asked could she get the dog back, to which the kids responded by sticking their tongues out. She sighed, then in an instant she disappeared. The kids looked around until they spotted her far away, the dog in her hands. She waved slyly before going back to the house.

When Kaito found his dog, it wasn't as easy as he had thought it would be. A dog with "Rina" scrawled fuzzily on the silver collar that was wrapped firmly around the dog's neck was quietly roaming the streets. From far away the dog looked harmless. Unfortunately for Kaito, he wasn't far away. As soon as Kaito bent down to pet it, it bit his arm warmer with a ferocious grip. He screamed in fear, trying to shake off the canine. But the dog had an iron grip. Kaito glared at the dog before running to the owner's house. The dog growled menacingly while biting rigidly into the poor ninja's arm.

"Get him off!" Kaito complained, shaking his arm with all his might.

"Rina. Release!" The dog let its grip go, dropping to the floor as soundly as a leaf. "Good girl!" He rubbed the dog's head.

"Thank you. I have already given your sensei the money." He smiled. "Now scat!" He slammed the door.

"I hate that guy..." Kaito uttered.

"I don't _hate_ him," Aoi made a confused look; "I just don't get him. I mean, why-"

"Guys." Hayato interrupted.

His teammates stared at him. This was the first time he came into a conversation without being asked a question. This was a rare sight to them.

"Sora's over there." He pointed towards a of mass of people that surrounded a small stage

"Where?" Kaito peered into the crowd; his eyes squinted, and said "I can't see him."

Without a word, Hayato started walking to the crowd. Kaito and Aoi jogged to his side as they entered the cluster. They quickly found Sora near the front. As soon as Kaito touched their sensei, the shouts began.

"That's stupid!" A man yelled.

"Get out of here!" Another civilian screamed, throwing paper at the man on the stage.

The man on stage had black spiky hair tucked underneath a black top hat. The man had peculiar azure eyes, wore a black vest over a white button-up shirt, and black dress pants with matching shoes.

He absorbed the hits as if they were pillows, the viciously thrown tomatoes and fruit leaving stains on his shirt. Kaito looked at his sensei, who stared at the man with interest, until Kaito became enraged. "Sora-sensei, why are they doing this? Why don't you stop them!?"

Sora looked at his student with sympathy. Before he could speak, the genin ran on stage, putting himself between the crowd and the man.

"Stop!" Kaito yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Why are you protecting him? He's gone mad!"

"Get away from him so he can't contaminate you with his lies!"

"We're getting rid of ridiculous ideas like his. The hard way!" They screamed.

Aoi glanced around nervously. '_This can quickly escalate_.' She thought.

"Kaito!" She whispered, "Get off the stage! He can handle his own problems."

"No! No human deserves this treatment." He said firmly.

"Stay out of this!" A gruff voice yelled.

"No!" Kaito roared. A tomato sailed towards Kaito. Before it hit him, the tomato was suddenly gone. Kaito blinked, and turned to see the man throw the tomato in the air. He pointed at the tomato.

"You have until that tomato falls to the floor to leave. I suggest you follow my instructions and leave this child be." He told the crowd calmly.

"Is that a threat?" A woman spoke, "I'd like to see you try."

The tomato flew fairly high, so when it began its descent Aoi guessed it would smash into the ground in about ten seconds.

'_One, two, three_.'

The man moved in front of Kaito, grabbing something out of his pocket.

'_Four, five_.'

"You'd best hurry." He now had a mischievous grin on his face.

'_Six, seven, eight_.'

Half of the crowd left, mumbling insults under their breath.

'_Nine_'

The tomato was near the ground. The man threw a large amount of glitter in the air. He made Tiger hand seal.

"A ninja?" Hayato muttered.

'_Ten_.'

Splat. The tomato hit the ground. The man sucked in a huge breath, then blew a huge wave of wind, sending the crowd flying with the glitter.

"Wind Release: Scattering Dust!"

Aoi appeared next to Kaito, kunai gripped firmly in her hand. Hayato appeared on the man's left and Sora on his right.

The man chuckled to himself.

"You." He turned and pointed to Kaito, "You have a good heart. I respect you for that. We will meet each other again. Until then." He gracefully bowed.

"Wait-" But it was too late. He blew at the glitter around his feet, turning in a circle until a glitter cloud blinded their vision.

When the glitter cleared, the man was gone.

"Sora-senpai, who was that?"

"I can't remember..." He stared into the distance, and then shrugged. "I think it's about time we do something else today. I guarantee it'll be fun."


End file.
